WES PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced a lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO at a press conference in West Palm Beach on Monday.
The state accuses OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman in a complaint filed in 10th Judicial Circuit of Florida of "knowingly released and aggressively marketed ChatGPT to the public—including to children—while concealing serious risks, suppressing internal safety warnings, and deceiving Floridians about the true nature and dangers of the product."
Attorney General James Uthmeier said, "OpenAI and Altman ignored internal and external safety warnings, put children at great risk, and allowed a dangerous product to reach millions of Floridians."
State Capitol Reporter Forrest Saunders covered the Office of Statewide Prosecution launching a criminal investigation into OpenAI on April 21, arguing ChatGPT may have done more than reflect the thinking of the accused Florida State University shooter and instead may have helped him plan the 2025 attack.
In response to the AG's lawsuit announcement on June 1, OpenAI released the following statement:
"Losing a child is the most devastating tragedy that can happen to a family and we know that no words can come close to addressing the pain of such a loss. AI is a new and powerful technology, and we believe minors need significant protection, which is why we have put in place industry leading protections and policies. In particular we built safety for minors directly into our products, including a more protective experience specifically for minors, an age prediction tool, defaulting users whose age we are not confident into our more protective experience, and giving parents tools to monitor their kids' use of AI. We know pointing to this work will not bring a child back, but we’re committed to getting this right."
FDLE Special Agent in Charge Mike Duffey joined Uthmeier at the press conference, highlighting what he deems as the dangers of artificial intelligence mimicking human responses.
"Parental vigilance must shift from simply monitoring who our children talk to, to ensuring they understand what they are talking to—because a machine programmed to please can never replace the safety of human boundaries," Duffey said.
The complaint also claims ChatGPT "collects data from minors without meaningful parental oversight, causes behavioral addiction and cognitive harm, and is prone to dangerous errors that the company has actively downplayed."
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